Emerald Haze
by Vashagud
Summary: Neither one of them had woken up thinking they'd be doing this today. Druge Use. Aerith/Sephiroth Oneshot.


Author's Note: This isn't a part of The Liaison story line, but I suppose it could be. Though it would be more of a pre-Liaison thing. Yeah, point is you def. don't need to read that to get this. Not that there is really anything to be gotten. Um. Kay. Gonna go now.

He was a southerner. He'd grown up baking in the hot, doughy air Gongaga was infamous for, and on more than one occasion he'd sprawled out in the lush greenery and forgotten to come home, until the rising sun of another day had him seeing red through his eyelids. It could've been why he'd done the same in Aerith's garden once, until he'd opened his eyes to find a very irritated girlfriend and a Zack sized patch of crushed flowers.

People grew flowers all over the world. In fact, too many to count bloomed just on his own Gongagan countryside. But flowers under the plate? It wasn't even a possibility. At least it shouldn't have been. But Aerith was everything a girl in a place like Midgar shouldn't be. And with a lovely face like that, and that soft naive manner of hers, he was more than a bit stunned that something hadn't already happened to take one or another from her, or both.

But sometimes she surprised him. Sometimes he wasn't sure he had it right. Because she looked like that and acted like that, but then she'd do something like this.

"Aer?" He rasped, his mouth hanging, hand reaching for the flower that couldn't_ possibly_ be growing in his sweet, innocent girlfriend's garden. In Gongaga, he'd well...intimately known this particular flora, and though it was a different color, he just knew that-

"Mmmhm?" Aerith was on her knees behind him, working hard in her little garden. When he didn't respond she turned around, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. "Zack?"

"What...What is this?"

"What is what?" Zack glanced back at her and motioned for her to come over. She came, her chin suddenly soft atop his shoulder, her chest pressed flush against his back. _Gaia. _The awful thing about that was that she did these things unintentionally. He turned his darkening eyes to the flower in front of him and he felt her turn her own bright eyes on it as well.

"This." She raised her eyebrows.

"It's a flower Zack."

"Well yeah but...do you know what this flower is?"

"You mean the scientific name?"

"No. I mean..." there was no way he could lead into what he really wanted to say. There was no gentle way to say it either. He wasn't about to accuse his pure, virginal girlfriend of-

"Zack are you okay?" Her arms were around his neck now, and he sighed. He was being ridiculous.

"You know, I think I'm just tired." And he was sure he could've convinced a couple more chaste kisses out of her if he stayed a little longer, but with that dark, clumsy looking flower there he couldn't completely focus on anything. More because of it's implications. So he went home, because he was tired. He just had to be.

Aerith took a deep breath and smiled. It wasn't a secret that she had an innate

'green thumb' but this particular breed was surprisingly hard to grow. She guessed it had something to do with the soil quality or something, but she had never had to think about things like that before. She felt a bit strange about this new botanic experiment, but she had started out with only the best intentions.

Zack had told her alot about what he used to do for fun at home, and a slip of the tongue had once lead the conversation into some rather taboo territory. She understood herself just how untouched by the world she really was and Zack seemed to be hypersensitive to that as well, but sometimes she was curious. Curious about everything she was untouched by and curious about the other side of her boyfriend that he clearly kept under wraps because of that (sometimes irritating) hyper awareness of her innocence.

Anyway, that one slip had opened the door to a piece of Zack he'd left in Gongaga.

A piece he said he missed quite a bit now and then, and conveniently, a piece she could probably use her talents to revive. She thought about it practically and admittedly, it was mostly a bad idea, but looking at the dark fleshy petals of her beautifully bloomed experiment she couldn't help the pride. Besides, Zack was a soldier, he'd be okay.

The gift was for him. She didn't plan on having anything more to do with it. She got to her feet and walked over to a pew, settling down into it. Would the planet be angry with her? Was she maybe abusing her abilities? She gave a great sigh, a closed her eyes, only to open them a moment later to see that she was suddenly not alone.

Even if she had not opened her eyes, she would've felt him. Everything about the General was nearly luminescent, but somehow whenever he was near there was an almost tangible darkness attached to his presence. It was like someone had suddenly thrown a huge tarp over her church. She didn't have any reason to be truly alarmed though, because she was pretty sure he and Zack were good enough friends that he wouldn't hurt her. Though sometimes she did wonder.

His visits were infrequent and eerily quiet, and full of an aching and a loneliness she felt

sometimes in her own heart. She could sense this so strongly, but was almost certain he didn't want her help and only came to the church because she left him alone and because the energy in the church was the most serene thing, balm to a heart like his.

They talked sometimes, but only if she pushed. And she didn't feel like pushing today. She got back to her garden, and reluctantly tended to her dark flower. She hoped Sephiroth wasn't some kind of botany buff. It was an irrational fear that struck her as she gathered the soil in her hand, _phasmatis sermova, _was one of those blooms native to Gongaga and obscure enough that it wouldn't be recognized here.

She checked it again thoroughly. This time she noticed something she hadn't just a few minutes before. It was wilting. Aerith couldn't help the pause, this had never happened to her before. What had she done wrong? _This had never happened to her before. _She was deeply connected with all of the flowers she nurtured to life, and sure those had been a product of the immediate area, but she was so sure she could do this.

Forgetting about the kind of flower it was, she was suddenly very disappointed with herself, and disappointed for reasons she knew were not directly related to it. That seed had been hard to get, and had come all the way from Gongaga, a place she only knew from Zack's wild descriptions of it, a place she was sure she'd probably never get to see. This dark flower had been a bit of a small triumph over that, and now it was wilting. _I shouldn't make such a big deal out of it. It's a just a flower. _But really, none of them were _just_ flowers.

"It is only a flower. You will grow more." His voice came sharply, though she wasn't sure if that was deliberate. Even though he was right there, she was surprised he'd been watching her closely enough to read her like that. It was kind of unnerving. She nodded, not really sure what to say.

"I know." she looked around, feeling an awkward silence start to develop. "I just...I've always been able to grow..." she strangely even more horrible at finding words around him than usual. She wondered how much she could divulge about it, without getting herself in trouble. "I probably won't be able to get this seed again." she finished, thinking that she probably shouldn't say anymore. How she got her hands on it in the first place still amazed her. She supposed that the law had so much to do in Midgar, a lot slipped under the radar.

Maybe then, it was irrational for her to be so paranoid. "It's from Gongaga." She added. It seemed she couldn't help herself. She knew it was partly because she was so green at doing anything remotely like this and maybe partly because for once Sephiroth had spoken to her first.

"Gongaga. Zack's home." Sephiroth said, a far away look in his eyes. Aerith nodded. Gaia, his heart always seemed so heavy.

_I makes you feel good. Nah, actually it just makes you forget. At least for a litte while._

"You were growing that for him." she nodded, and a memory came racing back. The first time Sephiroth had come to the church had been with Zack, and she had done everything to make him feel welcome. But she'd known, seen it over his shoulder as Zack embraced her, that Sephiroth didn't feel like a part of anything. Feeling left out was old territory for her too. In fact, on that very day seeing the intereactions between Zack and his General, she knew Sephiroth probably got to see sides of Zack she probably never would.

_Everything becomes hilarious. It's completely nuts. And you have to have food. Have to._

And just like that, Aerith pulled the wilting flower from the ground. It was split second decision that she didn't want to think too hard about, because she knew thinking would probably give her too much time to back out. She was just going to give him the flower, and tell him nothing about it. It was pretty enough to be offered as a gift like a regular flower.

_Sometimes you see these crazy things._

She held the head in one hand and got to her feet. When she started towards Sephiroth, there was nothing at all in his eyes that said it was safe or wise to approach him. But she did. She came to stand in front of him, and even sitting he was nearly as tall as she was.

She could almost tell that he was uncomfortable with her in his space.

"I was growing it for him." she looked into his eyes, which was a remarkably hard ting to do. "But I think you should have it." His eyes changed then, got as hard as flints and his mouth turned down just a tad. Aerith felt her cheeks burning. That wasn't at all the reaction she'd wanted.

"I do not need or want you pity." It was like a slap across the face, but she held her ground, determined to do something nice. In fact she was so determined, her face unconsciously began to mirror his.

"It's not pity, it's a flower. And I'm giving it to you." His face lost the hard expression for one of surprise, if only for an instant. Obviously that wasn't the reaction he was expecting either.

"Give it to Zack."

"I want to give it to you." She really did. "Besides it'll probably be dead before I can give it to Zack." Wrong answer. He scowled.

"How convenient then, that I am here." he said. Her eyes widened.

"That's not what I..." she stuttered. "Fine." She was embarrassed and now the flower she'd worked on for nearly a month was quickly dying in her hand. She started off, ready to go home, sorry that they would have to part on such a sour note.

"Besides, your flower is illegal everywhere except for Gongaga and Mideel." he said, and stopped her cold. "I wasn't aware those were the kinds of flowers you grew here." She turned around, the blood draining from her face.

"I...Zack..."

"If a Soldier were to be caught with that, do you understand what could happen?" Aerith felt incredibly small, and kind of like she'd gotten caught by her mother. The shame started to creep into her face. Suddenly though, she found herself more annoyed. She had been trying to do something nice, and he had turned it around on her like had committed some kind of crime. Well, she had, but she hadn't told him to smoke it or anything. She had assumed he didn't know the flower, and would just take it as one. What could she really tell him about it anyway? She'd never done it herself. And now, he was making it seem like she kept pots of them in her closet or something.

"I don't know what you're talking about." she lied horribly. Gaia, why did she always have to be so transparent?

"You don't do you?" faster than she could react, he'd snatched the flower from her hand. "You are perhaps a touch more naive than I thought if you think you are fooling anyone. Firaga." It promptly went up in flames. Aerith was completely stricken. How could he just...who did he think he was? She had worked so hard on that. But before she could say anything, her eyes were drawn to the result of the death of her illegal flower. They were surrounded by thick ribbons of green smoke. They both watched. Aerith blinked, green smoke?

"I don't think it's supposed to be that color." she said, momentarily mesmerized. Sephiroth frowned.

"No, it's not." He'd only burned it in the first place to prove that it was what he knew it was. But _phasmatis sermova _was supposed to give off a purplish smoke. Interesting. Was this one of those things his books had not explained accurately? Like war, and women? The ribbons of green smoke continued to rise, dispersing a lot more slowly than regular smoke. In fact, it was moving more like molasses. Two pairs of eyes followed as one tendril started to peel away, rising just as slowly.

_I should go home, I'm sure it will be gone in the morning. _She thought, still watching the smoke. It was one thing when the flower was wilting, but this very strange result made her wonder if she had not done everything wrong. Sephiroth reached a gloved hand out and put his fingers in the stream of green smoke, and when he took his hand back it was covered in it, and again it wasn't dispersing. His hand now wrapped in a cloud of smoke, he turned to her and just watched her. His eyelashes lowered and mouth tight, he held his hand up.

"Miss Gainsborough, is this commonplace with your flowers?" She looked at him incredulously.

"No." He watched her. "Well, I don't know. I don't often set fire to my garden." his mouth quirked and he put his hand down, sliding his glove off to find it too was filled with the slow moving smoke. "And I've never done any drugs before, or tried to so there'd be no reason for me to be burning anything." she said defensively. She was a little chafed when he looked disbelieving. She was so used to everyone's easy acknowledgment of her innocence, she didn't know how to feel when someone decided to be a little suspect. But he was like that in nature and she knew she couldn't take it to heart.

When she looked back up, a rush of dust caught her eye. The particles caught the sunlight like a blonde hair.

"What are you doing?" she asked, feeling a bit light headed. He glanced at her and dusted off his glove.

"Spores."

"Oh no. I can't have them go to seed in my garden." she said, forgetting how hard it was just to raise one. Sephiroth started to feel a bit warm.

"They won't." he said simply. He watched her, her cheeks were flushed and her pupils were already starting to dilate. She really _was_ as untouched as she seemed. She watched him right back from beneath her bangs, looking very much like the little girl he considered her to be. But those eyes, they could never belong to a child. They shouldn't at least. He realized offhandedly that the smoke was the same color as her eyes, the same color as his.

"You don't know everything Sephiroth." it slipped out of her mouth completely on it's own and when it was said, she put one dainty hand over her mouth, looking horrified. "I'm sorry. I don't know where that...I didn't mean to say-"

"I'm am _acutely_ aware of that, Miss Gainsborough." .

"Aware of what?"

"What I do not know." he said easily, feeling as if the room had just gotten a bit brighter. "But you, Miss-"

"I don't like it when you call me that." Again, it came out of her mouth completely on it's own. But this time she didn't apologize for it. Sephiroth stilled.

"What would you have me call you then?" Aerith laughed, and he frowned. And then she laughed again.

"My name. Aerith."

"That doesn't seem appropriate." She laughed again.

"Appropriate? It's my name. We're friends, you can."

"We are not friends." As much truth was in those words at the moment it still stung.

"We can be." she said. He couldn't sense a single dishonest motive. He didn't understand why that made him want to trust her even less.

"We cannot." He said, watching her face turn away from him. The movement made her hair sweep across her back, and the brush of brown curls on the partly bared skin had his fingers prickling.

"Why do you say things like that?"

"Because they are true." he said, and she frowned.

"They don't have to be." she sighed, her head feeling a bit heavy. "Call me Aerith okay? I don't call you General."  
"You are not one of my soldiers. If you were, you would." Even as Aerith started to become aware that the smoke was affecting her, and that maybe she should go home before something bad happened, she was still very much attached to reality. _If you were, you would. _And not even out of her full mind could she deny the power that was present even in his words.

"But I'm not. And I don't call you Mr..." She looked up at him. That's right, he didn't have a last name did he? "I'm sorry." she said. And after saying _that_ she realized that her apology might make him even angrier. But he was completely silent. The smoke rose around them, and she fidgeted and almost knocked her head on his shoulder guard.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, flowergirl." She smiled despite herself. 'Flowergirl' was both more intimate and impersonal than 'Miss Gainsborough.' Funny, she didn't mind it as much.

"Yeah, I think I do."

"What could you possibly be sorry for?" He said lazily, leaning back into the pew.

"For getting you high." His eyes snapped open, though he wasn't aware he'd closed them.

"I am not high." he said stiffly. Aerith laughed.

"Yes you are." She started laughing again. "You wouldn't have talked so much."

"I wasn't aware I..." Aerith stopped laughing and looked up at him, suddenly deadly serious.

"You're really good-looking." she started laughing again. "I'm sorry." When she cleared the tears from her eyes, she sighed. Looked at her hands. "You are though." the heat rose to her cheeks as she had one of those moments where a more sensible internal voice yelled for her to snap out of it, but not loud enough for her to listen. Well, it was easier to ignore it under the influence. She knew she was going to be so embarrassed when this was over. She looked down onto the pew and saw that he still had not put that one glove back on. "I understand a lot more than you think I do, Sephiroth." she said suddenly, knowing this was another confession spurred by the substance now dissipating around them, but also another attempt to reach him. He nodded.

"If only one thing about you is clear, it is that flowergirl." She hadn't expected him to actually agree, and she was at a loss for words. "I may not know everything, but perhaps you know too much?"

"What?"

"You are young, and knowledge can be a burden. Maybe a burden too heavy for the shoulders of a child." She blinked. Well sometimes when she thought about the fact she could actually hear the _planet, _it did seem a bit overwhelming. But everyone had their own burden to bear.

"You make it sound as if you are so much older." she smiled, and he smirked.

"Do you really want to play that game flowergirl?"

"I'm not kidding. I'm sure even when you actually are older, you'll be just as lively as those half your age." He was v_ery_ fit, and if she had to guess, 25, tops.

A strangely awkward silence descended. The smoke was finally dissipating, but Sephiroth sat directly in front of her, directly in the path of the sun. Some it managed to filter through his hair, but mainly she sat in his shadow, and under his darkened gaze.

"I'm surprised this has had an affect on me at all." he said without moving his eyes away from her. Aerith bowed her head, that's right, SOLDIERS were super resistant to nearly all forms of intoxication.

"What do you think it was?" Aerith had to admit that in general her flower had been extremely peculiar. The green smoke, it's strange behavior, and it's incredible potency... Either she had gotten a bad seed, or a very good one.

"I think the appropriate question is who, and perhaps where."

"You don't think that-" she didn't want to say anything, not sure how much Zack had told him about her out the limited information she had given him.

"I think, that this is the only place in Midgar flowers grow, and I believe they wouldn't grow like they do if it were any other person. And I think, that has made all the difference." he said. Aerith paused, she hadn't thought about that. Even in his limited knowledge of her origins, he might have hit on something. Could it be that the planet's energy which was within her and clearly within this church had had a hand in her illegal experiment?

Had she just 'smoked' the planet?

"Did I say something to upset y-" Sephiroth started.

"No, no. I'm just...hungry." she looked up at him. "Are you?" He was surprised to find that he was. "Hold on." She got up and disappeared into the back, quickly returning with a small bag of potato chips. She pulled the bag open, and crunched down on the first one. She handed them to him.

"Lately gardening just makes me want junk food." she smiled and waved him towards the chips. "Eat some, they're very good." And he did, and when he did he could not seem to stop. She had crumbs on her dress and his fingers were greasy, but neither stopped to even talk until there was nothing left in the bag.

"This isn't going to happen again." he said suddenly. She looked up at him again.

"I know. It's probably not a good idea anyway." She laughed. "Zack is going to be so angry with us for leaving him out."

"He will get over it. We have an assignment close to Gongaga soon." Aerith got a far away look in her eye.

"That's great." she smiled. "He wouldn't believe us anyway if we told him about this."

"Then perhaps it is not necessary to tell him." She smiled again.

"_Perhaps_ not. I guess it can be our secret then." She licked a crumb from the corner of her mouth, and his eyes followed. "Does this make us friends?" she asked playfully. Sephiroth rose from the pew and started out.

"No, it does not." But it sure made them something, she just wasn't sure what that was yet. Or what it would become.

A/N : Wow, never thought I'd ever write anything like this but here it is. If you read all the way through, awesome. You _know_ I wanna know what you think, so I don't have to ask you to review. But I am anyway. Please review if you're up to it? I'll love you forever. Thanks for taking the time to read!


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